WASHINGTON SECURITY AND DEFENSE SEMINAR SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES Hugo Rodriguez Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central America Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, U.S. Department of State Hugo F. Rodriguez, Jr. became Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs in May 2019. A career member of the United States Senior Foreign Service, Mr. Rodriguez served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Asunción, Paraguay, from July 2016 to April 2019, and as the Embassy’s Charge d’ Affaires from January 2017 to March 2018. During his career as a Foreign Service Officer, Mr. Rodriguez served as Consul General at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City from July 2014 to June 2015, and as the Mission’s Acting Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs from June 2015 to June 2016. While there, he led the effort to document and gain social service access for the estimated 500,000 U.S. citizen children of Mexican parents living in the country. He previously served as Deputy Director of the Office of Mexican Affairs, as Division Chief for the Western Hemisphere in the Bureau of Consular Affairs’ Overseas Citizen Services office, and as a Watch Officer and Senior Watch Officer in the Executive Secretariat’s Operations Center. Mr. Rodriguez has also served abroad at U.S. Embassies in Lima, Peru and Rome, Italy. He Was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Hampden-Sydney College. John Kreul Principal Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy John Kreul is the Principal Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Prior to joining Western Hemisphere Affairs, John served in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (ASD) for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs from 2012-2014, first as Senior Advisor to the ASD for Regional Strategy and Plans, and then as the Chief of Staff to the ASD. Before those positions, John Worked as the USD(P)’s Human Capital Strategy Team Lead, as Director of OSD Policy’s Coalition Affairs Office, in the Policy Planning Office, as Director of the Afghanistan Office, and in the Iran and Strategy Offices. He completed an assignment as a Director in the National Security Council’s Defense Policy and Strategy Directorate from 2009-2011 and attended the National Defense University’s Industrial College of the Armed Forces from 2007-2008. Before coming to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, John Worked at the Department of State's Nonproliferation Bureau, where he started as a Presidential Management Intern (PMI) in 2000. While at State, he completed details to the U.S. Mission to NATO in Brussels in 2001 and to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad in 2003. Prior to joining the government, John Worked at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Association of the U.S. Army. He attended GeorgetoWn University’s School of Foreign Service as an undergrad and the London School of Economics for his Masters. 1 JUAN CARLOS CORREA CONSUEGRA Brigadier General, Colombian Army Director, Exercises and Coalition Affairs (J7/9), United States Southern Command Brigadier General Juan Carlos Correa currently serves as Director, J7/9 (Exercises and Coalition Affairs), United States Southern Command. His current responsibilities include oversight of U.S. Southern Command’s Civil Affairs, Humanitarian Assistance, Interagency Integration, Joint Training and Exercises, Partner Nation Advisors, Public Private Cooperation, and Science, Technology, and Innovation programs throughout Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Upon graduation from the General José María Córdova Military Academy, Brigadier General Correa Was commissioned a Cavalry Second Lieutenant in the Colombian Army on December 1, 1989, and has served in Special Forces and Cavalry units throughout his career. During his career, Brigadier General Correa held various command positions, including Commander of the 2nd Special Forces Battalion, Commander of the 13th and 28th Cavalry Battalions, Commander of the 28th Jungle Brigade, Chief of Army Planning and Transformation, and Commander of the Army National Training Center. Brigadier General Correa is a graduate of the U.S. Armor School, Intermediate Level Education (ILE) and School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS) at the Command and General Staff College, and the U.S. Army War College. He holds a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College, a Master of Military Arts and Science (MMAS) in Theater Operations from the U.S. School of Advanced Military Studies, a Master of Security Defense from the Colombian War College, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Webster University. Brigadier General Correa is also a graduate of the U.S. Army Ranger and Pathfinder Schools. BRIGADIER GENERAL RICHARD J.E. HEITKAMP Deputy Director for Politico-Military Affairs (Western Hemisphere) Strategy, Plans and Policy Directorate, The Joint Chiefs of Staff Brigadier General Richard (Rich) Heitkamp is the Deputy Director for Politico-Military Affairs (Western Hemisphere), Strategy, Plans and Policy Directorate (J5), Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pentagon, Washington, DC. He is responsible for political and military matters in North America, Central America, and South America. Additionally, his portfolio includes policy issues associated With Homeland Defense, Defense Support of Civil Authorities, and Counter-Narcotics. He provides policy recommendations to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff through close coordination With the National Security Council, Department of State, Office of the Secretary of Defense, U.S. Southern Command, and U.S. Northern Command. Prior assignments include planning and engineering positions: deputy J5, North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado; commander, 420th Engineer Brigade, Bryan, Texas; G3, 416th Theater Engineer Command, Darien, Illinois; deputy commander, Transatlantic Division, Winchester, Virginia; Kabul Area OIC, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Afghanistan; commander, 12/104th Engineer Battalion and later 1/95th Engineer Battalion, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri; assistant S3 and later company commander, 27th Engineer Battalion, XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, NC. He is a graduate of the Command and General Staff College and School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS), Fort LeavenWorth, Kansas and the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. He holds degrees in civil engineering, environmental engineering (Water and Wastewater treatment), engineering management, military arts & sciences, and strategic studies. 2 Dr. Hal Brands Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies Dr. Hal Brands is the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins SAIS as Well as a Senior FelloW at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and the Foreign Policy Research Institute. His listed expertise includes, among a number of topics, Latin American security and diplomacy, grand strategy, history, domestic influences on foreign policy, and nuclear policy and proliferation. He is the author of several books, including Latin America's Cold War (2010), Making the Unipolar Moment: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Rise of the Post-Cold War Order (2016), and American Grand Strategy in the Age of Trump (2018). Dr. Brands received his BA from Stanford University (2005) and his PhD from Yale University (2009). Dr. Sarah Sewall Executive Vice President for Policy In-Q-Tel, Center for New American Security Dr. Sarah Sewall is the Speyer Distinguished Scholar and Professor at Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC., a Senior FelloW at InQTel, and serves on the boards of the Center for Naval Analyses and Creative Associates. From 2014-2017, she served as Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights. During the Clinton Administration, she served as the inaugural Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Peacekeeping. Dr. Sewall taught at Harvard for over a decade, Where she directed the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy and Worked closely with the U.S. military to advance civilian protection in war. Dr. SeWall is the author or co-author of a number of publications including Chasing Success: Air Force Efforts to Reduce Civilian Harm (Air University Press, 2016); Mass Atrocity Response Operations: A Military Planning Handbook, With Raymond, D. & Chin, S. (Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, 2010); and A Radical Field Manual, The U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual. (University of Chicago Press, 2007). Dr. SeWall has taught at the Naval War College and served on the U.S. Secretary of Defense’s Defense Policy Board. She graduated from Harvard and received her doctorate from Oxford University, Where she Was a Rhodes Scholar. Julie Chung Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, U.S. Department of State Julie Chung assumed the position of Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs in November 2018. She Was previously the Director for Japan in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs and served as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary from February-September